Moving Past Our Ghosts
by SabellaX
Summary: Akira goes to UA to escape her ghosts and bury her family's dark legacy, but when her past comes back to haunt her she'll need all the help she can get to keep her skeletons in the closet. She wants to escape heroes, not become one, but the passionate UA students she can't seem to avoid have her rethinking her priorities. (Fluff, Making Friends, Coffee Shop Cuties, Cuddle Buddies)
1. Chapter 1

Bakugou pushed into a small, plain looking café, the door slamming into the wall behind him. He threw his bag onto the ground as he wrenched the chair from the table and sat down. Kirishima sat across from him much more civilly, fingers grazing the ring shaped stains on the old laminate. It was always quiet in the coffee shop, and today the only sounds were Bakugou's ragings.

Kirishima had come to learn that his classmate was surprisingly talkative if he got on the right track (namely, hatred and complaining), and Kirishima appreciated the opportunity to be stoic. He enjoyed the ambiance of The Cafe, they had no wifi and almost no customers, making it a quiet place to read. Kirishima was there a few times a week to study, or just relax from long days. The service had always been decent, but a month ago it had gotten decidedly more interesting. The new waitress was quiet, jumpy, and constantly breaking things, but she laughed quietly at most of his jokes and then looked surprised, as if laughter was new to her, and she always smiled when he came in, like she was genuinely happy to see him. It didn't mean anything of course, she was just doing her job and he knew that, but he couldn't help how happy and calm the place made him, especially when she was there.

He flashed two fingers and a toothy grin at the waitress, who was at the counter refilling the pastry display. She nodded at him, grabbing the coffee pot and some cups.

Bakugou was still ranting, but it was subdued. He was only like this when the two of them were alone, and Bakugou would scan the area occasionally, as if he thought someone would jump out at any moment and yell 'gotcha! Caught you being slightly more sane than usual!' It was the first time Kirishima had brought him to The Cafe, in the hopes he might unwind a little.

"-and how did that inviso-bitch get past the physical exam anyway? What can she do with that lame quirk, other than sneak around?" Bakugou glared at Kirishima, as if to scare him into agreement, and Kirishima smiled back, happy to spend time with his best friend.

A giggle broke Kirishima out of his thoughts and Bakugou out of his calm rage, the waitress was setting down Kirishima's coffee and creamer. Bakugou always got upset when people interrupted their conversations, and was especially annoyed when people snuck up on him.

Black bangs hid the waitresses face as Bakugou's attention turned to her. "Who the fuck are you?! Die!" She took a frightened step back -which seemed to anger him even more- and Kirishima tried to jump in.

"Dude, chill-"

The tableware started to rattle as Bakugou's stood up, his chair falling over behind him. " _Laughing_ at me, waitress bi-"

Her tray fell onto the table and Bakugou's coffee cup shattered, spraying him with porcelain and scalding coffee. He brought it on himself, but would probably still freak. He wiped coffee from his eyes, flinging it across the room with a flick of his wrist.  
When they looked up, she was gone.

A server with a button nose and electric blue hair skipped over, replacing Bakugou's coffee and sweeping up the chunks of porcelain into a dustpan with a bright smile. "Are you alright there sugar? Need me to get you some ice or something?" Her voice held only concern, but when Bakugou looked down to wipe away the spills she winked at Kirishima.

"Where did that useless girl go, laughing at me, who the fuck does she think she is?!" Bakugou's gaze darted around the cafe, stopping on swinging door behind the counter.

The button nosed waitress blinked. "What? I'm the only waitress on shift today." Her hand edged towards his new coffee, "I'll bring you something a little more soothing. Decaf or herbal tea?"

"Hahhhh?!" Bakugou shrieked, ripping his coffee away from her and chugging it down like it was Midoriya's blood. "Bullshit. Where's she hiding?"

He stalked towards the counter, and Kirishima slouched in his chair, not excited to get barred from his favorite cafe. Movement caught Kirishima's eye. He looked up to see hands pulling themselves along the support beams, as though they were playing the monkey bars. He followed the hands into the shelves.

The hands had arms and a torso attached, as the waitress pulled herself down from the ceiling by clinging to a low hanging light fixture.

Kirishima coughed, offering a hand.

"Sorry about him. He get's carried away, but he's totally harmless," He lied, "More bark than bite. If you don't ban us we'll tip forever!" He smiled sheepishly.

She paused, eyeing his hand warily like it might burst into flame.

Their hands clasped and Kirishima pulled her towards the ground.

"You… always tip anyway. It's no trouble. I should've been more careful." He had never heard her speak before. Kirishima blinked as she floated down, her lilting voice surrounding him. It was soft and melodic, almost haunting. Her whole body shimmered until her feet touched the floor and she looked human again.

"Woah." Kirishima didn't blush, because he was too manly, but when she looked down at their still-clasped hands and raised an eyebrow he might've turned a little red. He had been staring. "Sorry! Sorry. Don't ban me!" He let go of her hand and jumped back, flailing his hands in front of him.

A tiny chuckle escaped her. "You two sure have a lot of energy. It's… refreshing," A smile tugged on the corner of her lips, and for the first time and Kirishima saw her eyes, a brilliant green that seemed to glow in the darkness of the bookshelves.

"Well, you're the first to meet that idiot and think refreshing, that's for sure."

"Someone saying exactly what they're thinking is an interesting concept, if he could tone the threats of violence down."

"Shitty Hair! Did you find her?" Bakugou appeared behind him -which meant he must not have been paying attention because that boy is _loud_ \- and when he looked back, the girl was gone.

Kirishima flailed his arms towards the bookshelves. "What? No! I was looking for a book… and I found it!" Kirishima grabbed the nearest book and waved it at Bakugou.

He raised an eyebrow, "The Joy of Sex, huh? What d'you need that for, a girl sees your hair and she's going to run for the hills, no matter how 'hard' you can get." Bakugou chuckled at his own joke, his face still a little pink from the coffee -and the rampage.

Kirishima looked at the book, its bright pink cover with the word sex underlined twice. "You're right Katsuki, I'll put it back." He threw out Bakugou's first name to try and throw him off, but he steamrolled right over it.

He sneered, his eyes staring into the depths of Kirishima's soul. "No, get it. You spent all this time looking for it, right?"

Kirishima sighed. "Yup. I did. So I guess I'll get this… book."

Bakugou cackled, stomping back towards the table.

As Kirishima headed back he saw the girl materialise out of the bookcase. She smiled at him and mouthed 'Thanks'.

They had a surprisingly nice time at the cafe after that, and their new waitress -whose name tag said Hanako- brought Kirishima a black cupcake with an icing smile on it.

She winked, "Because you're our favourite regular."

Bakugou balked. "Our? So you admit there's two of you!" He pointed an accusing finger in her face.

"You're ass must be jealous of all the stupid shit that comes out of your mouth," She smacked his hand away. "I meant he's the cafe's favourite." She gestured around, "Because he is polite, and _respectful_ , unlike some of our unruly customers, who shatter our teacups."

"Hahh! I didn't break nothin' it was that stupid laughing bit-"

Kirishima cut him off, "I'm happy to reimburse you for the cup, Miss Hanako."

She turned that megawatt smile back onto Kirishima, "I wouldn't have it! These accidents happen. I'm just glad you're alright."

Bakugou was grumbling incoherently now, glaring death at Hanako, who seemed to think the whole situation was hilarious. She picked up the book beside Kirishima.

"The Joy of Sex? Y'know I've read this one. I'm sure you two will find it really useful." She smirked at Kirishima, who face now matched his hair. "Let me ring this up for you boys, I'll have the bill in a blink."

When Nezu's secretary motioned for the girl enter his office, she hesitated. She nearly tripped over the carpeting, as she moved to sit in the chair across from him. She ran a shaky hand through her hair.

"Miss Masters, how lovely to see you. Congratulations, by the way."

At her name, she looked down, and at his praise she visibly flinched. She already looked guilty as hell, _And I am guilty_. She thought. "That's actually what I've come to talk about. I would like to formally rescind my application to the Hero course."

"Are you sure? You may not get another chance."

"My exam scores were much better than they should have been. It isn't fair to the other applicants."

"We received recommendations for you from multiple heroes. More than I've seen in recent memory. There are a lot of pros who want you to succeed, who are sure you will succeed! Even without then, with your exemplary scores-"

"It wasn't me!" She sat rigid in her chair, trying not to dig her nails into her crossed arms.

Nezu raised an eyebrow. "I think I'll make us some tea. Your mother loved my homemade Oolong blend." He turned on the kettle by his desk and measured some leaves into his teapot. It looked simple and well worn, much less extravagant than his salary could probably afford.

After a few minutes of silence Nezu set down a cup of tea in front of each of them. "So. Who took your recommendation exam for you? This is on the record, but if you give them up, we can avoid pressing any charges."

"Well, it isn't exactly like that. It was me taking the exam, but," She realised she hadn't thought this far ahead. She couldn't tell Nezu her step-mother had been involved, because it put her father at risk.

"So you took the exam."

"Well, technically yes, but…"

"You have the makings of a great hero. You have a marvelous quirk, and great instincts. Quirks like yours are rare, and tailor made for the job." He paused. "It's part of why your mother was so successful."

She sipped her tea. It tasted light and fresh, like spring or new beginnings.

"I don't have the makings of a hero. I did well on the physical exam because a friend used a... mind altering quirk that made me more efficient. I want to formally withdraw my application from UA." She was more serious now. She didn't have time for this. A hero doesn't need to be convinced and coerced. They have convictions. Heroes _want_ to be heros.

"The ability was yours. It was still _you_ , using _your_ quirk. I have no doubt that with training, you could easily replicate your performance.

She said nothing, sipping her tea and avoiding Nezu's eyes, and trying to ignore his encouraging tone.

Nezu shuffled the papers on his desk and sighed. "Well, I doubt you'll get into a decent school with this on your permanent record. Not many high schools accept students who cheat on entrance exams."

Her head shot up. "What? You can't do that!"

Nezu met her glowing green irises with his own level stare. "I most certainly can. You marched into my office and confessed to a crime. You should count yourself lucky this is all I'm doing."

She bowed her head. Another reason she would never be a hero. She was easily cowed. "Of course, Principal Nezu. Thank you for your time." She set down her teacup and bowed low, reaching for her bag.

"You know, your scores are easily high enough for the hero support course. You didn't submit a formal application, but your recommendations are for UA, not _necessarily_ the hero course."

She sucked in a breath. Would that be enough distance between her and Axion Labs? It was everything she wanted. Maybe she really could become someone else here.

"Could I… Could I enroll under a different name?"

He paused. Eyeing her curiously over her tea. "I don't see why not. What did you have in mind?"

"Reiko Akira"

Principal Nezu smiled from behind his teacup. "It suits you."

Aizawa shuffled into the office as the girl left. As she passed she nodded respectfully, keeping her eyes trained on the ground. "Excuse me."

He shut the oak door behind her, and handed Nezu the files he was there to drop off. He paused, contemplative, and then sat across from the principal.

"Why push her into staying at UA? If a student has to be pushed, they don't belong here."

"She has a lot of potential."

"All of our students have a lot of potential."

"You interned with Phantom, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Why?" Nezu filed away the forms Aizawa had given him.

"She stayed out of the press. We had similar goals. It made sense."

"What did you think of her situation, towards the end?"

Aizawa glared and grit his teeth, "It was shocking and horrible. Get to the point."

"That girl was Phantoms daughter."

"Obviously. I saw her exam." Aizawa rolled his eyes. "Why are you really doing this, Nezu?"

"I owed Phantom a favor when she passed away, and I hate to be indebted to the dead. It's bad luck, you know."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, and said nothing. Nezu was aware the drawn out pause was a tactic to get him to add more to his answer, but he continued anyway.

"There is the matter of her father. He's a genius -obviously- and popular with heroes and the media. But there have been a lot of _coincidences_ lately with Axion Labs." Nezu was glaring into the distance now, his eye twitching. "I'm certain there's more to him than meets the eye, but… currently there's nothing we can do." Nezu sipped his tea, watching Aizawa closely. "The game is changing, and we need to keep all the pieces in sight."

Aizawa's face was carefully still, as though he had no thoughts on the matter. It was an obvious tell, and Nezu was surprised he hadn't fixed it yet.

"That aside, you'll keep an eye on her, won't you?" It was phrased like a question, but it was clearly an order.

"Of course, but I'll be keeping an eye on 20 other students, so I don't know how useful I'll be."

"You're a resourceful man, I'm sure you'll find the time somewhere." Nezu smiled from behind his tea. "Besides, I'm sure you'll have a lot to talk about."

The first time Todoroki saw her in the cafeteria he assumed he was mistaken.

The second time he squinted, staring until Iida tapped his shoulder. "Please keep the line moving! We're inconveniencing the other students"

Todoroki shrugged him off and kept walking.

The third time, she looked at him and smiled. He felt a fiery hand clench around his heart, burning it to ash. He nodded back at her and she turned back to her friends.

The fourth time, she was ahead of him in line. He was trying to decide whether he should say something when she saw him out of the corner of her eye and turned around.

"Todoroki! How are you?" Her tone was light, but hearing his fathers name on her lips was like a brand on his back.

"Fine."

"I saw you got into the Hero Course! That must be so exciting. Pretty much everyone in my class wants to get transferred there."

"Not you?"

"Nope. I'm actually-" She stopped to order her food from Lunch Rush. "Anyway, it was nice catching up with you. See you around!" She smiled and headed in the opposite direction.

It was strange to be strangers again. It was like none of their past existed. He thought maybe he had imagined it. He had seen her around with her dad and had made up a whole story that they were friends.

That she used light up when she saw him. That she cried when she scraped all the skin off her knees and when he frosted them, she kissed him on the cheek and said 'I love your quirk Shouto, I wish I could heal people,' her eyes shining up at him like he was the most amazing person in the world. Maybe he had imagined her clinging to his sleeve as they walked along the garden path, jumping when a racoon hopped out of the bush, grabbing onto his arm and hiding behind him.

"Dont worry," he had said, "I'll never let anything happen to you." He had kicked at the raccoon and it had fled back into the bushes.

He must have imagined it. How else could it have become 'catching up' in 30 seconds every six months, almost less than strangers. He should ask Fuyumi. She would know.

The fifth time, there was a stampede in the cafeteria and Todoroki's first thought was if she was alright. She used to be terrified of tight spaces, and if she still is… He looked around at the students, panicking and packed like sardines. He pushed through the crowd, swimming against the current, eyes locked on her usual table.

He slid under it, and there she was. Her eyes had rolled back into her head and were blindingly green, her face and neck were wet with tears, and her hair was thrashing like it might fly right off her head, the ends white.

"Kira."

She looked up at him and went still, hair hanging like medusa's snakes poised to strike. He stayed still for a moment, and then nodded.

She lunged for him, wrapping her arms around his torso and squeezing. It was a good sign that she was solid. He just had to make sure she stayed that way.

"Don't worry. I would never let anything happen to you." He was surprised at the conviction in his voice. He couldn't remember the last time he felt conviction.

She held tighter, and the whimper that escaped her made Todoroki hope it _was_ Villains infiltrating the campus, so he could freeze them all to death.

"Breath with me." He took deep breaths in and out, and she followed, her grip loosening, her hair falling back down.

There was wet spot on his uniform where her tears had soaked through the material.

"Shouto?" He almost missed her whisper amongst all the commotion.

"Yeah."

Her voice wobbled. "Do you... still know how to French braid? I can never get it right." She was still clenching handfuls of his uniform, her whole body trembling.

He hummed, turning her around until her back was to him. He combed his fingers through her hair until it was tidy, and as he braided he thought it was strange how his muscle memory hadn't faded even with years of disuse.

"It's long."

"I've been growing it out. My mom had super long hair."

"Hm."

"Shouto?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you. For everything. I never really thanked you for-"

"Don't" He couldn't listen to her thank him for the biggest mistake he had ever made. He wouldn't survive it.

"Okay. Well. Let me thank you for this at least. There's this great coffee shop-"

"I can't." He couldn't do it again. He couldn't pretend everything was fine. He wasn't there to make friends. Especially not her. Losing his best friend was nearly impossible the first time. He couldn't do it again.

"Oh. No problem. The coffee's meh anyway." She tried to push her voice into calm acceptance, but it sounded defeated, crushed.

"Right now. I can't right now. Maybe later, I could." What was he doing? He knows false hope is worse than no hope. He misspoke. He would tell her no and that would be the end of it.

"Yeah?" The tension in her shoulders had disappeared.

"Yeah." He couldn't say no to her, even years later.

She hummed happily and leaned back towards him -which made it impossible to keep the braid straight. He huffed, undoing the braid and starting over at an angle, so it would sit over her shoulder instead of down her back. It was difficult with her so close, and the leg of the table was digging into his spine, but he didn't move her.

He hoped she hadn't noticed that he had restarted the braid three times, just to stretch out their time together. He tried to think of the last physical contact since this, other than 'training' with his father. He vaguely recalled shaking someone's hand a few weeks ago.

It crossed his mind that this probably wasn't appropriate. They weren't little kids anymore. There were probably cameras in the lunchroom. He couldn't bring himself to care. The commotion had long since died down, which meant it probably wasn't villains, and he was pretty sure their next class had started.

"I don't have a hair-tie, I think it flew off somewhere."

"I'll improvise."

He traced his fingers around the end of the braid until she had a thick ring of ice tightened around her hair.

With the braid finished, she leaned back until she was flush against his chest. She smelled different. Like paper and coffee, instead of the sickly sweet smell of the expensive shampoo that they both used to hate. He didn't know what to do with his hands. He settled for behind him, taking some of the pressure of his back.

She traced a hand over her hair and down her braid. "It's amazing that you're still good at this. Good at everything." She paused. "Thanks for coming to get me."

He nodded. _Good at everything, except what's important_.

She crawled out from under the table and reached out a hand to pull him up. Her hair was black again, and her eyes had regained pupils and irises. The rebound was faster than he remembered.

She rubbed her arms. "So… I'll see you around?" It didn't sound like small talk when she said it this time. It had weight.

"Yeah."

"I'll look forward to it." She smiled and this time, it didn't hurt.

 **So I hope you guys liked this! I'll probably be updating at least through to the sports festival because I have the drafts done but how much I continue posting kind of depends on how people like it. I thrive off constructive criticism, so please please let me know what you think. I've also posted this to a03 under the same name, and I generally post there a few days earlier.**

 **It's going to get fluffy pretty quick, and there's going to be lots of interactions with class 1-A, (and 1-B) and everybody's support and general studies students! She does already know a few of them (pre-UA), and there are a few she probably won't get along with. Also, I will not be including the piss face rat baby Mineta, because he was expelled for his garbage behavior, and I hate him**

 **(This is not at any point going to be a reincarnation fic, and there is a character arc planned, so Akira does have lots of weaknesses and flaws, and she might be a little annoying right now, but that's because it's the beginning! Everyone is going to improve.)**


	2. Chapter 2

Akira, stepped into the dark guidance counsellors office. "Mr. Hound Dog?"

"Why are you here?"

Akira jumped at the voice that was certainly not Hound Dog's.

"I was… looking for Mr. Hound Dog. We have an appointment. Here. At… Um, right about now." She was looking at the ground again. A bad habit, but one that was surprisingly hard to break.

"He's not here. I'll be standing in." light from the crack of the door illuminated half his face. He probably wasn't big on guidance. "So. Why are you here?" Aizawa motioned for her to sit down.

She shuffled over to the desk and sat down, and the door closed behind her, cutting off all light. The total darkness was creepy. "Principal Nezu said this was a condition of my enrollment."

"So you don't want to be here. Leave then." He sighed, and probably rolled his eyes but she couldn't see for sure.

"No… I think he was right. I definitely… need some help."

"So why are you here?"

"Is this all confidential? You won't ever tell anyone?"

"As long as you aren't confessing to a crime, or giving me reason to believe you're putting your own or someone else's life at risk."

"Okay. Well, I'm here because I cheated on the entrance exam." She twisted her hair between her fingers, a nervous habit she normally hid, and the darkness started to . She couldn't see him, but he couldn't see her either.

"Why?"

"My parents wanted me to be a hero. No matter what."

"So you cheated so you could get into the Hero Course."

"Sort of the opposite. UA is the only school with it's recommendations test the same time as Shiketsu's, which is where my parents wanted me to go. Taking the test was just to make sure I couldn't go to Shiketsu. I knew I would receive an inadequate score on the physical exam, and UA wouldn't let me into Hero Studies, and I could go to a regular school."

"You're surprisingly honest for a cheater."

"This is kind of like a doctors appointment, right? And you're never supposed to lie to doctors."

Aizawa made a sound that was probably a grunt of agreement. "Where does cheating fit in this tall tale?"

It was okay if Aizawa thought she was a liar. She found it made it much easier to tell the truth. "And you won't tell anyone this?"

"Correct."

"I didn't cheat." She sighed, the truth releasing the heavy wright she didn't realise had been on her chest. "Someone cheated for me. The efficiency quirk? I didn't know someone was using it on me until the test had started, and by then there was nothing I could do. It took control of my whole body."

Aizawa paused for a long moment. His chair creaked, which probably meant he was leaning back, "So. Why are you here, Naoko?"

She flinched, pausing for a long time. "Please don't call me that." Her voice was so soft she wasn't sure he could hear her. She couldn't muster up any more strength than that.

"It's your name, isn't it?" His tone was demanding now, the casualty of earlier vanished.

"Well, yes but-

He cut her off. "You enrolled under a different name, but you're Naoko Masters, correct? That's who you are." His questions pierced through her armour, leaving her vulnerable. That is who she was. That was her name. Thinking about it made her ill, but the garbage can was at least by the door, and she didn't think she could make it with any degree of accuracy in the dark. She swallowed the bile.

"I don't want to be." Her voice cracked, and she hoped Aizawa couldn't see her tearing up in the dark.

"So what _do_ you want?" His insistence was gone, and he sounded apathetic and disinterested again.

She took some time to catch her breath and calm down, rolling the question around in her head. She had never thought about what she wanted for herself. She didn't think anyone had ever asked her what she wanted, except maybe Shouto.

"I guess… I want to be like my mom, but... I'm not. I didn't know her that well, we didn't get to spend much time together. But when we did? She was amazing. And I thought, maybe, if I wasn't Naoko Masters, maybe if no one knew who I was and I started fresh, maybe if I did something, anything _,_ on my own merits, not on my father's connections, that maybe I could be just a _little_ like my mom was. But I can't."

"Why not?"

Her voice was shaky, "Because my mom would _never_ run away from her problems," Aizawa realized her tiny voice was trembling with anger, not fear. "She never ran away from _anything_ , and I could _never_ be a hero like she was." After a pause, she let out a nervous chuckle, "And I'm not a super-mega-genius like my father, but I am what he made me. I'm Naoko."

She spit the name out with a visceral disgust that stunned Aizawa, not that she could see it.

She coughed, doing her best to right herself after her outburst, feeling embarrassed at how much she had shared. "I'm sorry, I just realised I have a crucial matter to attend to." She scurried out of the room before he could call her out on her obvious lie, praying that fleeing her mandatory counselling wouldn't affect her enrollment.

"You're fourth sentence is wrong. The English plural for ox is 'oxen', not 'oxes', and it should be 'was' there, not 'is'."

Kirishima groaned over his English workbooks, erasing his translated sentence for the fourth time. "I'm never going to get this. Just kill me before Mic does."

The waitress giggled, and Kirishima realised where he was. "Fuck, I've been here like an hour and I haven't ordered. Could I get a large coffee, lots of cream and sugar?"

"You betcha," She spun around, revealing a comically large black mug with a pink kiss mark pattern from behind her back.

"Ta-da! Your Stressed-Out Special!"

Kirishima looked at the coffee, confused. "Woah. Do you have a psychic quirk?"

"No," She set down the coffee, "But you always order super-large-coffee-lots-of-cream-and-sugar when you have trouble with your homework." Her face was twitching a little, trying to look nonchalant when she was clearly ecstatic she predicted his order right. "And this is the largest mug we have!"

Kirishima rubbed his neck, the tips of his ears a little red, "Am I that obvious, or are you just super observant?" He knew he wasn't quite the mysterious stoic he wanted her to think he was, but he didn't realise he was so transparent.

She shrugged. "We don't have a lot of regulars," She waved her hand at the vacant cafe, full of empty tables. "And you're my most regular regular, so I've learned one or two of your expressions." She looked over his shoulder at his homework again, chewing on her lip.

"You know, I'm actually pretty good at English, if you need some help. I have to be here until closing and there isn't much to do." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Really? That would be awesome!"

She slid into the booth next to him, pulling a pencil out of her apron and circling what were probably errors all over the page.

"So do you have a name? I mean, no nametag, no name, right?" He cringed. The joke had seemed solid until he said it out loud.

The poor quality didn't stop her amused huff. "It's Kira. Yours?"

"It's Kirishima. Kira, Kiri, almost the same." He chuckled weakly as she continued to circle the numerous mistakes. _God, I must be worse at English than at talking to girls_.

He hoped someone with a time quirk would reset the last two minutes, or maybe a villain would crack a huge hole in the ground and he could fall in.

His prayers were answered when Bakugou kicked open the door and stomped over to them. "I knew that bitch was lying! I knew you were real!"

She stiffened, but didn't look up from Kirishima's work. "Can I get you something? Scones are on special." Her voice was low and even, like she was talking to a feral dog.

"I would love a scone!" Kirishima jumped in between them."To go! Two scones! On my tab." He didn't know if the cafehad tabs , but he would do anything to get Bakugou out of there, and from way she scampered to the counter, it seemed she shared the sentiment.

Bakugou glared at Kirishima, "I don't want any shitty scones." He glanced at the homework on the table. "What's this? You begged me to tutor you through English _tomorrow_." He attempted to flip the page, but ripped it out instead.

"Oh. I thought I would get a headstart?"

He held the paper closer to his face, growling at it. "Good. You're almost too stupid to be helped."

Kira returned with the scones, looking marginally less nervous. "Did you need some English help too? I'm pretty fluent." Her lips turned up just enough to call it a smile, and she actually looked up at Bakugou.

Kirishima held his breath.

For a moment, he hoped maybe Bakugou would ignore the question.

"HAHHH!? _You_ help _me_? I don't need _your_ fucking help, Giggle-bitch." He pointed at Kirishima with one hand one blew up the paper in the other. "And neither does this idiot. I'm the best tutor there is, got it? He's got me, so he doesn't need some second-rate skank confusing him."

Kirishima put a hand on Bakugou's arm, trying to calm him down, "Let's head out man, we can still hit the gym," His voice was thin and strained, like a cord about to snap. He felt terrible about Bakugou's behavior, and not standing up for his favorite waitress didn't exactly masks him feel like a hero, but Kirishima REALLY wasn't great with interpersonal conflict.

"No." Bakugou snatched a scone off the plate and took a giant bite, his glare bouncing between them like he was trying to decide who he wanted to murder first.

After a moment of chewing he paused, walked outside, and spit the scone on the ground, and then he explosion-threw the rest over a building. He stomped back into the cafe and looked at them both, stunned. He snatched Kirishima's coffee of the table and chugged it.

"I'm going to kill whoever made those. They're a public menace."

Kirishima noticed Kira deflate and grabbed the other scone off the tray, encouraging, he did know how to do. "He's just picky, I'm sure they're great!" He took a bite, and the pain in his teeth activated his quirk on reflex. He managed not to scrunch up his face, but he couldn't suppress the full body shiver that rang from his teeth down to his toes, his arm hair standing on end. He held back a gag and he focused all his willpower on biting through the rock hard scone and swallowing it whole, because if he chewed it, his lunch was definitely coming up.

She flopped into the chair. "I did my best, okay! But Hana's writing is so messy, and all the recipes are super complex, and I'm new to cooking! I tried to follow everything exactly! I don't know why they're so terrible." As she ranted her hair started to levitate around her shoulders as if gravity had no effect on it, white slithering up the ends like a creature was sucking the colour out of her very being. "I'm going to get fired for poisoning customers and then I'll be homeless and then I'll get kicked out of UA and then-"

"Stop talking, Worthless." Bakugou ran a hand down his face. "It's annoying."

She stopped mid-sentence, her hair falling back down, black.

He had never heard her talk so much before, she was always so quiet and calm, but now she sounded like she might burst. Kirishima cringed, unsure, still standing between them as if he expected someone to attack. "I'll buy them! All of them. You're not going to get fired, You just need practice. The next batch will be fine."

"No it won't!" Kira and Bakugou turned at the same time, and then glanced at each other, surprised they were on the same page. Bakugou looked between Kira and Kirishima and sneered.

"Kitchen?" Bakugou threw his bag down beside Kirishima's and shrugged off his jacket and tie with so much force Kirishima thought they would tear.

Kira pointed to the door past the counter, but Bakugou grabbed her by the collar.

"You're coming too, Useless. Weird Hair! Lock the door."

"Is this really alright?" Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck, "Maybe we should-"

"Just do it, Kirishima. Stupid taste in women has consequences." His voice dropped to a rageful mumble, "A waitress that can't cook. I'm surrounded by mediocrity."

After a moment of hesitation Kirishima locked the door, flipped the sign, and hustled to follow them.

Akira sat down across from Aizawa for her second appointment. It was different than the last time. The light's were on, and Aizawa had a little notebook in front of him..

"So, Where do you see yourself in five years?"

She chuckled. "I haven't really thought that far ahead."

"Why not?"

"I guess, I never thought I would make it this far."

"That's a very honest answer." Aizawa looked at her from over his notebook.

"I have to be, right? This won't work if I'm lying to you."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that all?"

"Well," She rubbed the back of her neck, "It's a little strange, but I know I can trust you."

"You can trust all the teachers at UA."

"Of course. I know that." She nodded. "But I don't, really. Mostly just you."

"And why is that?"

"You worked with my mom. She used to talk about you sometimes, when she could."

"I see." Aizawa looked back at his notes and quickly changed the subject. "I noticed you haven't signed up for the sports festival yet."

"I'm in hero support, so why would I? Besides," She flexed, showing her decidedly scrawny arms, "I'm not exactly the sporty type."

"Madilyn took second place her first year. First place her third." Her mother's name sounded strange on his tongue. Akira gaped at him for a moment, stunned. He stared at her expectantly.

Akira collected herself. "Oh. I… didn't know that."

After another long pause, Aizawa flipped through his notes, sighing and rubbing his eyes. "Okay. Next we're going to do a blue sky exercise. Close your eyes."

He looked up and they were already closed. He made a note of how quickly she followed orders. It was a concern Power Loader had mentioned to him at one point. When a classmate told her to do something, she would drop what she was doing immediately to do it, almost compulsively. It had become a safety issue when her and Hatsume Mei were in the workshop together.

"Imagine none of your problems existed. No health problems, or interpersonal problems, or financial problems. Visualise them going up in a balloon or something." He tried not to roll his eyes. "You have unlimited resources and support. I'm going to ask questions, and when you answer try to just say the first thing that comes to mind." He paused for a moment. "Where would you be in five years?"

"I would live in an apartment with a balcony, and two cats." She gulped. "And I would re-open Team Phantom."

That was unexpected. "You would have to be a hero to open a hero agency. Correct?"

"Yeah."

"Where would you live?"

"Anywhere but western Japan." She was from western Japan. Interesting.

"If you're a hero, you must have taken the hero course." She didn't respond.

"Okay, open your eyes." She opened them, staring at him expectantly. "So what did we learn?"

She scoffed. "Nothing. I can't just wish my problems away, so daydreams are just that. Dreams."

"If you know what you want, and know the steps to get it, take them. Or you'll regret it."

"I don't think its that simple."

"No, it's never simple." He waved towards the door. "Enjoy the rest of your day."

"What? What am I supposed to do with that?"

"Not my problem. But I would suggest the sports festival. You've got a powerful quirk, I'm sure you could find a partner for the obstacle course."

"The first part is an obstacle course?"

"I have no idea. Where did you hear that?"

She huffed and left the room, shutting the door gently behind her. It was little moments like that, when she was annoyed instead of cowering and mindlessly obeying orders, that she reminded him of Madilyn.

Bakugou had already donned an apron and washed his hands, and he motioned for Kirishima to do the same.

"Are you sure we're allowed back here?"

She shrugged, her eyes trained on the floor. Kirishima sighed. It had taken weeks to get her out of her shell, and it seemed Bakugou had pushed her right back in.

"Hey Chuckles, where's the recipe? And the ingredients."

Her face scrunched up in confusion. "what?"

"Those scones can never happen again." Bakugou shuddered. "Kirishima, grab the scones and toss 'em. Or burn them."

He looked at Kira for permission, and she shrugged, He returned the sentiment. He had absolutely no idea what was going on, so he headed to the counter and removed all the scones from the glass display case and threw them in the trash, and when he returned to the kitchen Kira had assembled all the ingredients and Bakugou was reading the recipes intently.

"Chuckles. Pen." He held out his hand and Kira jumped, fishing a pen out of her apron.

The recipe was handwritten, and Bakugou flipped it over and re-wrote it neatly on the back.

"Her writing is shit. No wonder you fucked up, this is illegible."

He stared at the original and the front before nodding. "Okay. Make the scones."

Kira flinched. "What?"

He growled. "Show me how you make them so I can see how else you fucked up. If I do it for you, you won't fucking learn," He scoffed and rolled his eyes,"And if you're as stupid as you look, you still won't."

Kira nodded and then she turned on the oven and started to measure the dry ingredients.

"Wrong."

"What?" She froze. "What did I do?"

"Read the recipe through before you start anything. What if you're missing ingredients? Or got the temperature wrong? If you're going to bake shit, at least _try_ not to poison people."

It seemed she had already learned to tune out Bakugou's aggression, before he had finished speaking she was checking the recipe and all the ingredients, nodding.

She started to measure dry ingredients into a bowl and Bakugou stopped her again.

"Don't you know anything?" The only thing that would complete Bakugou's irritated expression would be smoke coming out of his ears, Kirishima thought.

"Honestly? No. But I'm ready to learn!"

She mustered a look of determination and raised a fist. Even in the face of Bakugou's blunt criticism, she kept going.

"What is that?" Bakugou glanced disdainfully at her fist.

Kirishima wiped away a tear. "It's a show of manliness! Chef Katsuki, show us what do!"

"Hn?" Bakugou glared at him.

Kirishima smiled. "I don't know anything about baking, so teach me too. Please, grant us your wisdom, chef!" He gave an exaggerated bow, and joined Kira at the back counter.

"Do what you want." He snatched the recipe and started barking out detailed instructions. They had to hustle to keep up, and Bakugou was relentless. Kira was surprisingly good at following orders, and Kirishima found himself falling behind, making his manly allyship more of a pathetic show of his own poor baking skills.

"You can't just scoop out the flour, morons! You have to sift it so it isn't packed."

At their stunned glances he sighed and grabbed a mesh… thing from a drawer, and proceeded to shake the flour into the measuring cup.

Soon the three of them were all arms deep in dough as Bakugou explained the finer points of the techniques, showing them the size they had to cut the cold fat for it be flexible, and explaining what the fuck leavening was.

"You're overworking the dough. Stop. It's mixed."

Kira looked between Bakugou and the dough. "But… it's so lumpy."

"It's supposed to be lumpy, dumb bitch. It's not cookie dough."

Kira nodded at Bakugou, flour in her hair and a smidge of butter on her cheek. "Yes chef!"

Kirishima tried really hard not to be jealous, because real men don't get jealous, but her eyes, bright and excited, was something he had never seen before. And it didn't have anything to do with him.

"Kirishima. Yours is shit too. Just mix it together and then stop! It's not that hard!"

Kira nudged Kirishima with her shoulder, "Hah! Looks like I'm the better baker."

Kirishima nudged her back, "For now maybe, I'll bake your socks off, just you watch."

She chuckled, and they looked at each other covered in flour in the back of a cafe getting yelled at. It dawned on them how ridiculous it all was, and their laughter filled the kitchen.

Bakugou smacked them both upside their heads. "Concentrate, you cackling fuckwits, you're almost done."

Kirishima looked over to Bakugou's batch, already on a baking sheet in eight perfect wedges. "Yours are amazing!" He really was good at everything. A real man.

Bakugou growled in response.

By the time all the scones were in the oven, Kirishima was pumped and ready for action. "Success! Now what?" He glanced around the kitchen, but Kira had already put the ingredients back and the bowls in the dish pit.

"I should probably open The Cafe back up. Maybe Katsuki could help you with your English while I clean up?"

Kirishima flinched at her saying Bakugou's first name, and he realised he had never introduced them. "Oh, actually-"

Bakugou already had a hand on the back of his neck and was dragging him out of the kitchen. "No excuses. If you're so stupid you had to beg some _waitress_ for help, we're starting your English prep right now."

He didn't have time to respond, he was already being thrown back into the booth and having his face shoved into the textbook.

"Everytime you make a mistake, I'll blast you."

Kirishima sighed, flipping through his work. "This one is like-"

"Wrong." Bakugou let off a blast in his face.

"I didn't even finish!"

"It was going to be wrong."

Kira flipped the sign and unlocked the door, giggling at their antics.

Bakugou looked up. "Tch. Dumb bitch."

She gave Bakugou a salute, her eyes glinting even though her back was perfectly straight. "Yup."

For half an hour, they worked on his English while Akira straightened displays and tidied the tables and the floors before disappearing into the stacks with a cart full of books.

"Your taste could be worse. I guess." Bakugou's eyes flicked over to where she had gone.

"I'm pumped you guys are getting along. Maybe we can all hang out together sometime!"

"Gross. No thanks."

A little while later Akira appeared with a plate of scones, and tiny metal bowls of butter and fancy jam. "On the house."

"I made them! They better be on the fucking house."

The two of them ate the scones and finished Kirishima's English homework, and then redid it to Bakugou's satisfaction. Before they knew it it was dark.

"Kira! We're heading out."

"One moment!" She shouted from the back kitchen.

She ran out with two little gift baskets filled with scones and other pastries from the counter.

"Did you make any of this shit?" Bakugou asked, eyeing the basket warily.

"Nope."

"Good." Bakugou snatched the bag and walked out the door.

"Thanks! This is super nice of you."

"It's the least I can do after you guys fixed my scone problem." She put a hand on his bicep. "This was... the most fun I've had in a really _really_ long time. Thank you."

Kirishima blushed a little, his voice low. "Yeah, no problem. I had fun too."

"I'm glad." She said quietly. The cafe was eerily silent around them. Could she hear his heartbeat? He felt like it might burst out of his chest, the way it was hammering and carrying on. He wanted to say more.

They both opened their mouths to speak-

Bakugou banged on the cafe door with his free hand, "Are you gonna stand around all fucking night? Let's go!"

Kirishima chuckled. " I had better go. See you later?"

"Yeah. See you later." He could see right through her to the specials board as she locked the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Quality control? What's that? I don't have a beta so the fic is confusing and I'm sorry!**

 **Honestly though, This has been in my drafts forever, so I figured I would just post it, even though it is... certainly not perfect. If you find a bunch of weird inconsistencies that is because I HATE fanfiction . net's upload format. The edited and updated more often version is on a03 by the same title and author.**

"Hi. I'm Tatari Akira, it's a pleasure to meet you." She set her tray down across from the purple haired boy who was drinking pepsi and glaring at her.

"What do you want?" He looked like he had just rolled out of bed, the bags under his eyes a dark grey that did his pale complexion no favours. His tone was sharp, and Akira's fledgling confidence faltered.

"Oh… well, I don't really know anyone, and I figured I could come sit here, since the seats weren't taken?"

She blinked, and she was sitting alone, her lunch gone and the warning bell ringing for her next class. It seemed the rumours about him were right.

He took total control. She didn't remember anything from the 45 minutes she had been out. _Total control._ Her breathing was shallow, and her hands shook, her whole body trembling with terror. _Total control._ She closed her eyes, steadying her breathing until she was calm.

She smiled, picking up her tray and heading towards the exit. _Perfect_.

She chewed quietly through the first half hour of lunch, and he thought maybe she would get the hint and leave him alone when she spoke so softly he almost missed it.

"The weathers lovely, eh?"

"Didn't you get the message? I'm not here to make friends." Shinsou shot her a menacing glare. A few people from his class were already scared of him and probably spreading rumors, and he couldn't get a read on this girl but she seemed fake, like she didn't want her to be there either. He thought about just moving her, but he felt kind of bad after the last few times, and it could get him in trouble, though it didn't seem like she'd told anyone after the first eight times.

But a question had been clawing at him, burrowing into his thoughts a little deeper every time she sat down with awkward small talk that clearly made her uncomfortable. The question was growing now, feeding off his thoughts until it became a compulsion that consumed his thoughts from 11:50 to 12:40 every weekday. So annoying.

She was eating from a bento box that seemed to contain only meats. Repulsive.

She was shimmering a little, like she did whenever it got particularly awkward. He didn't know what that was about either. "What about... an ally?"

"Hn?" He narrowed his eyes at her, just trying to enjoy his pepsi.

"We don't necessarily need to be friends. But maybe we could be allies? Help each other out and stuff?"

"I don't need anything from you."

"Well… I guess not, but I've got some pretty interesting gear in the works. Mostly general stuff, but I could do something specific for you if you have, like, weak knees or something? I checked the rules, you can't take it off campus, but there's nothing preventing support students making gear for non-hero course students."

"Sounds like a great deal for me. And of course you want something in return. Maybe someone to do something. Someone to fall in love with you or some nerd to do your homework? There's somebody you wanna control, right?"

She wrinkled her nose, her voice steadying. "I don't think that's really for me. I mostly wanted someone to try out my support items, and you seem like you would give good feedback. You're clearly fit." Her eyes roved across his body with a cold cynicism that didn't convey attraction, but still made him want to put on a hoodie. "You're in high standing in your class too, right? And I heard you want to be a hero. Students in the hero course are usually too busy to try our hero gear, ironically. "

"Oh, Is that all?" Was she stalking him?

"Well… your quirk is pretty interesting."

Of course she thinks it's interesting. Here comes the real reason _._

"If we were study buddies, you could make sure I don't check my phone! That would be pretty handy." She let out a weak chuckle.

Shinsou was staring at her like he was trying to unbend a screw with telekinesis. He could not figure this girl out.

"I also brought you a bribe, to sweeten the pot a little?" She rummaged in her bag, pulling out a paper bag filled with pastries. "I noticed you never eat lunch. If you're training to be a hero, nutrition is important! What would happen if you were fighting some villain and passed out from low blood sugar? Someone could get hurt." Her voice shifted wildly through the joke, as though she was flipping through tones she had heard and couldn't settle.

A chuckle escaped him, despite his best efforts remain solemn. "You're a freak, you know that?"

She smiled, small and genuine. "I've heard that."

"Well, keep the pastries coming, and I guess I can help you with some testing. But I want first dibs when your crap goes to market."

Her expression was blinding, her wide brown eyes all filled with hope and light and optimistic nonsense. He hoped it wasn't contagious.

They walked together hand in hand,

"Shouto!" Tiny Naoko shrieked. She grabbed onto his arm and hiding her face in his back. "A monster!"

He raised his palm towards the beast, matching its evil glare with a chilling look of his own. He thought about mercy, but decided quickly against it. Mercy was for weaklings like Naoko, not him. He wouldn't let this offense go unpunished. No offense could ever go unpunished. Especially not an attack on his future wife.

The path ahead frosted over, and the koi pond to their left and the flower bed to their right were coated in an icy sheen. The fish might be dead. He knew father wouldn't care either way. The beast screeched, thrashing against its frozen prison until it was drowned in ice.

"Are you alright?"

"I… I think I'm okay."

He turned and pinched her cheeks, her teary eyes widening in confusion. "You're lucky I was here. You could have died."

She nodded gravely, looking back at the horrible monster and shivering, her body blinking between translucent and opaque.

"You don't have to shake when I'm here. I won't let them get you."

He held out his hand, his cheeks pink. "Let's go. You need tea, you're clearly trauma-, traumet-…" He scrunched his nose, trying to finish the word his mama always used. It didn't come to him. "Scared."

"Okay." She took his hand and smiled, wiping her tears away with the back of her sleeve.

Endeavor and Dr. Masters walked over to where the poor racoon was encased in ice. Dr. Masters chuckled.

"He's strong for a child. Whatever you're doing is clearly working, Enji. I'm impressed."

"That girl of yours has him wrapped around her little fingers."

He hummed thoughtfully. "It seems so, doesn't it? It's good for the boy. Developing protective instincts early."

"It looks like he'll need to do a lot of protecting." There was the slightest hint of condescension in Enji's tone.

Dr. Masters straightened his tie. "I'm raising her to be obedient first, and a hero second. I've noticed it helps with the _attitude_ issues. Speaking of attitude, how is your wife?" It seemed Enji needed to be reminded of his place loudly and often, or he started to get wild ideas that they were equals.

"Fine."

"Wonderful. Now, my good man, I think we had better chaperone the two of them making tea. I would hate for them to have some sort of _accident_."

"Do you believe in destiny?" Akira had asked the question before the door had even closed behind her. It seemed she was starting to get something out of counseling.

"No." Aizawa didn't look up from the papers he was grading.

"I think I used to. But, I don't anymore."

"You're sounding chipper. That's good." Aizawa's flat tone didn't match his words, but the deadpan tone didn't seem to phase her, or at least, it didn't make her any more nervous than she already was.

"Do you know Katsuki and Kirishima? They're in the hero course."

"I recognise the names." Aizawa smirked under his scarf. If he cared, he would probably wonder how they crossed paths. UA was a big school.

"Well, I almost poisoned them, and I think we're friends now. And I realised something. It's up to me, who I want to be and stuff. Doing nothing is still a choice, right? That means, right now, I'm _deciding_ to do nothing. And that's stupid!" She was still standing, fists raised. Staring right past Aizawa, staring at what, he didn't know. Didn't really care.

Aizawa had to smother a chuckle. Her pose looked almost exactly like one of Kirishima's "manly" poses. "So what are you going to do?"

She looked slightly surprised when he spoke, like she had forgotten he was even there. She sat down quickly, markedly more subdued and looking a little sheepish. "Not nothing, that's for sure."

 _Hmm,_ Aizawa thought, _There might be hope for her yet._


End file.
